Integrative studies on rural landscapes: policy expectations and research practice
Introduction
Moves towards integrative research approaches in studies on rural landscapes have led to a rapid increase in interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary studies, where researchers, managers and the public collaborate to find solutions to real landscape problems (Buchecker et al., 2003, van Asselt and Rijkens-Klomp, 2002, Haaren, 2002, Moss, 2000). Fry (2001) has shown that such partnerships place a high demand on academics to move out of their disciplinary frameworks and their academic environments and norms. Research on rural landscapes spans an ever wider range of subjects including geography (both social and physical), resource economics, ecology, planning and sociology, history, etc. In many ways, this development is providing evidence of the complexity of landscape and the need for integrative approaches. Both funding bodies and research environments promote integrative studies (Tress et al., 2001, Tress et al., 2003, Opdam et al., 2002, Wu and Hobbs, 2002, Fry, 2001, Tress and Tress, 2001, Decamps, 2000, Klijn and Vos, 2000, Turner, 2000, BMWV-KK, 1999, Holl and Nilsson, 1999, Fry and Sarlov-Herlin, 1995, Naveh, 1995, Nassauer, 1995).
Yet, it is not always clear what researchers do and produce in interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary studies that make them different from disciplinary research. Nor is it clear what research funding agencies are expecting of the integration process. In this paper, we examine integrative landscape studies with a focus on what is expected to result from such studies compared with disciplinary studies, and comment on the process and products of integrative landscape research. This paper identifies policy expectations and reviews research practice in large-scale integrative studies on rural landscapes across Europe. The paper arises from the INTELS project (http://www.intels.cc) that examines large-scale interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary landscape studies throughout Europe with the specific aims of analyzing the state-of-the-art and identifying a code of good practice.
First, we provide an analysis of funding agency expectations. We identify their motivations for and aims in promoting interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity and discuss the expected outputs. Second, we present researcher perspectives on and experiences with integrative research. Third, we discuss the problems of researchers to translate the policy expectations into research practice and what difficulties they have to cope with. Finally, we identify some management aspects that can increase the performance of integrative landscape studies and help achieve a better match with policy expectations.
Section snippets
Methods
For this paper we gathered information from a literature review, reports and descriptions of research programs, and qualitative interviews. We reviewed the literature on interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity, especially theoretical and methodological papers, and those on the practical application of integrative approaches. We collected written material from large national research programs within Europe. The projects were screened to collect statements about the expectation of funding
Research funding and integrative studies on rural landscapes
Policy is a major driving force promoting interdisciplinary studies in the field of rural landscapes. By policy we mean (research) policy-makers, research councils and other public and private funding bodies. They have a significant influence on research directions because they make decisions about tasks and objectives, use of resources, frameworks and strategies (Policansky, 1999, Benson, 1998, Thwaites, 1998). The decisions of research councils and funding bodies are increasingly based on
Research practice: investigating rural landscapes with integrative approaches
Research practice begins at grant application and ends with the deliverables. Along this time line we investigated issues such as the objectives of integrative studies, researchers’ understanding of the approach, barriers to integration, organisation and management, the role of leadership and the research outputs.
Discussion
This study indicates that there are several problems facing progress in interdisciplinary landscape research. A serious anomaly appears to be the gap between the expectations of funding bodies and what research is able to deliver. This is in part due to the high expectation that interdisciplinary projects provide solutions to environmental problems. Better communication of the expectations of policy to the research community is required. These should include clearer criteria for judging
Conclusion
The lack of a common understanding of the concept of interdisciplinarity invalidates a basic academic tradition: that of building on existing knowledge. Instead, most interdisciplinary landscape studies start the interdisciplinary process from scratch. Reflection on what has functioned well and where further improvement is needed are inherent parts of the research process. An important recommendation for the future of interdisciplinary landscape research is to increase the sharing of
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank all representatives and participants from research projects, research councils and funding bodies for participating in our INTELS-study and sharing experiences with us on their programs and projects. We are thankful to the organisations that funded the study: Alterra Green World Research, Wageningen University, Wageningen Initiative for Strategic Innovation, the DWK-program “Green metropolises”, the Agricultural University of Norway, and the Norwegian Institute for Nature
Gary Fry has a Bachelors degree in Education and a Ph.D. in Ecology from the University of Southampton, England. He has worked for government conservation agencies in Scotland and England, working on site evaluation, designation and management planning in woodland, mountain, wetland and coastal habitats. Since 1985 he has been engaged in cultural landscape research in Norway, first with the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research in Oslo, and since 2002 for the Institute of Landscape Planning
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Gary Fry has a Bachelors degree in Education and a Ph.D. in Ecology from the University of Southampton, England. He has worked for government conservation agencies in Scotland and England, working on site evaluation, designation and management planning in woodland, mountain, wetland and coastal habitats. Since 1985 he has been engaged in cultural landscape research in Norway, first with the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research in Oslo, and since 2002 for the Institute of Landscape Planning at the Agricultural University of Norway. His current research profile focuses on interdisciplinary landscape studies involving the combination of visual, cultural and biodiversity interests in landscape assessment and planning.
Bärbel Tress and Gunther Tress are senior landscape researchers at Alterra Green World Research in Wageningen, the Netherlands. They coordinate a research program on interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity in landscape research and planning together with the University of Wageningen. Both are involved in quality management for interdisciplinary landscape research. Their fields of expertise in landscape research include the human–environment relationship, scenarios and future-oriented studies, visualisation techniques, participatory planning, landscape theories, organic agriculture, and tourism. They hold European Doctorates in Landscape Research from the University of Roskilde, Denmark and Masters degrees in Geography and Germanic Philology from the University of Heidelberg, Germany. Both served as assistant professors at the University of Roskilde, Denmark and were co-managers of an interdisciplinary research initiative.